Why I Sell What I Sell or Thoughts From the Dentist Chair

So little else to do while sitting there getting a double whammy root canal but think. Trying to distract my brain from the chilling grind of the drill, ache of the jaw being held open by the blue latex drape of doom.... I stare up at the fluorescent light fixtures... hmmm how does a bug get inside there anyway?

Oh yes... distraction.... where did it all begin? I won't go into the whole sordid take of my childhood except for the part of my favorite aunt who lived in Carpinteria, CA... just south of Santa Barbara. It was an escape I looked forward to each summer, 2 weeks spent with Aunty Lynn and Uncle Bob.

Aunty Lynn was a collector. The first collection I can remember was dolls, gorgeous antique dolls made of porcelain bisque. I didn't know then what I do now about them, they were just so awe inspiring for me back then with their lifelike skin color and pouty faces, and the clothes! I just loved the clothes those French fashion dolls wore. My aunt had some of the best, Bru, Jumeau, German made too... her entire room was FILLED with them! She got me started with some smaller versions of my own. My family always talked about how I would surely inherit that doll collection since Aunty Lynn had only one child who had no interest in them.

Then one summer they were gone...all gone! She had changed her passion to Native American artifacts like baskets, pottery and paintings. My Aunt was like that, yet she had a love of all things antique and shared that passion with me by taking me to local antique stores, and teaching me what things were. She also volunteered in a local thrift store and here are where some of my most cherished memories lie.

I can remember being so excited to go work at the thrift store. We would go in the employee entrance in the back... that always made me feel so special... and inside we would start going through the new donations, oh the great things we would find! I think I was fully ward robed from that thrift shop for many years... is why I am such an avid thrifter to this day.

In that store my Aunt would let me help run the cash register, this is where I learned my first customer service and retail skills. I cringe thinking how nowadays if the electricity went out and the calculator broke kids today would not know how to make change for a $20 bill!

So before this grows into a novel I will wrap it up saying.... finding my niche in antiques and collectibles came naturally, through the love of an Aunt who I think still goes with me to the thrift and antique stores, I miss her so much... lesson learned sell what you love and you will love selling and sharing that love with others.